Eek

Tara sat quietly just inside the rear door of the barn. The winter chill assaulted the metal shell of the stable but could not find entrance into it's cozy interior. Outside, an unnatural cold had settled over the world. The tiny marbled feline sat perfectly still. Her shiny black fur was sprinkled with flecks of yellow and orange. She looked out of season every day except Halloween. But, that did not concern her. She was never a cat to worry about fashion.

She ran security at the Fields Foaling Barn. The operations there were smaller than those of the Main Barn but Tara liked the slower pace and the autonomy of this job. She had worked under another Halloween cat named Meg for a number of years. Meg retired from her position as Head of Security of the Foaling Barn and Tara was the natural replacement for the position. Having served as Assistant to the Head of Security of the Foaling Barn, she was experienced and qualified.

She wore her authority with a quiet Southern grace. She completed her rounds on time each day and was alert during the night shifts which came with the job. She knew every nook, cranny, and crag of the facility. It was her duty. She was charged with patrolling the barn and eliminating all intruders which were her size or smaller.

The typical perpetrators were birds, rabbits, large insects, and the occassional rodent. On this night, she had received intelligence from the goat that there was a family of Gypsy mice moving across the turnout paddock heading for the barn. The goat indicated that they were armed and potentially dangerous.

Tara's yellow eyes did not blink. She lay perfectly still but her ears were finely tuned listening for the tiniest vibration. She was in the hallway which separated ZigZag and Ella's stalls. They were uninterested in the tiny ball of cat who waited for the arrival. The mares munched their hay and alternately nosed their grain buckets looking for forgotten pellets.

Tara was accustomed to the mare sounds. Their feet on the straw, their velvet noses sorting hay on the floors- she tuned these sounds out easily. Her small black ears were experienced and scanned the air for a specific sound. And then it came. "Eek."